Outlier TV Episode with Gary Bencheghib Co Founder of Make a Change World

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Andrew McCombe:
Hey guys, Andrew McCombe here and welcome to Outlier. In this week’s episode, I’m in beautiful Bali, Indonesia, where I’m going to be speaking to Gary Bencheghib. He’s the founder of “Make a Change World.”

Okay, guys, Gary has been making waves in the environmental activism world. Let’s go and meet him. Gary. Welcome to Outlier. What a fantastic location.

Gary Bencheghib:
Thank you.

Andrew McCombe:
Where are we?

Gary Bencheghib:
So we’re in Bali here on the beach. This is the beach that I grew up for the past 16 years. So it’s quite a symbolic beach. It’s also the beach where we sold our first trash barrier. So we’re protecting this part of the coastline. It’s quite symbolic,

Andrew McCombe:
You’re making a change to the world, and that looks like cleaning up rivers that then clean up the ocean. So just talk us through how that began,

Gary Bencheghib:
Growing up on the island Bali, when you would go running on the beach, surfing, or swimming in the ocean, plastic was everywhere. It was in our rice fields; it was on our beach, you couldn’t look away from it, to the point where it would distort your natural everyday life. Ten years ago, my brother Sam, we were thinking about what we could do to make a change as the youth of Bali.

We would literally go every weekend on a Saturday or Sunday and pick up and clean up the trash that we see on the beaches.

We started inviting friends from schools, made it a school group with students. We were called “Make a Change Bali” at the time. Every week we would pick a different beach on the island to clean up, but very quickly realized that that very next weekend or that very next day, more plastics would come.

We were just sweeping the floor, but not really making that change. Although from a visual standpoint, we felt like we were victorious that very day. But it was coming back. That’s when we started to think, “what if we actually focused on the problem at the source on land before it even gets out into the ocean.”

Andrew McCombe:
So what did you do?

Gary Bencheghib:
This is 14, 15, 16 year old me, wanting to understand more about the plastic pollution problem, realizing that there are no barriers between the rivers and the ocean and that 90% of plastics in the ocean come from rivers in the first place. That was a big trigger point for us.

Andrew McCombe:
Just say, just start that again for me, 90% of the plastics that go into the ocean come from rivers.

Gary Bencheghib:
90% of plastics in the ocean are coming from land-based sources. So the rivers and streams.

Andrew McCombe:
Wow, unbelievable.

Gary Bencheghib:
Well, if you think about it, most of our consumption is on land. You think about ferries going out to sea, and sometimes, yes, people from the ferries throw out their trash, but the truth is, the majority of the plastic we consume today is from land.

Andrew McCombe:
So to go to the source, I mean, it’s such a massive challenge, right? But to go to the source, what did you then start to do?

Gary Bencheghib:
My brother and I were always really big fans of adventure. Our first fundraiser was climbing Bali’s biggest volcano, Gunung Agung. And since then, it was always that adventure-driven thrill of wanting to do more. We combined our passion for activism and adventure in our first expedition going down the Mississippi River, America’s most important and iconic waterway where with five friends on the summer of 2016 on one of my summer holidays, we decided, “what could we do to visually represent how much plastic America consumes?”

We set out to build a drunk raft made from 800 plastic bottles. All the wood on the deck was made from reclaimed materials. And even the sales were made from old tents that we stitched together. We even had a solar panel on board to charge our gear, cameras, and drone. That idea was inspired by Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn,” but more so just the idea of going on this Epic adventure to discover what this entire massive problem is about.

Andrew McCombe:
So, at this point in time, how old were you?

Gary Bencheghib:
I was I think 21.

Andrew McCombe:
…and Sam?

Gary Bencheghib:
Sam didn’t join, it was just me and friends. But he was super sad about it.

Andrew McCombe:
So how did it go? Like, obviously, you paddled down the river and…

Gary Bencheghib:
Yes. It was a two-month expedition, going down from Minneapolis all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, and all along the trip, we were recycling, stopping from harbour to harbour. We became the gossip of that entire summer.

But beyond that, I think just that idea of being on a big waterway, seeing industrial life, seeing the history behind, transporting goods in a waterway, but more so how urbanization has happened. Part of the Mississippi River, just North of Louisiana, south Baton Rouge, is called Cancer Alley, the petrochemical industry factories after factories.

The people living around it are much more prone to cancer. Their cancer rate is the most elevated in the U.S., And I think, seeing that firsthand, these huge big factories with dark smoke coming out. That’s when you realize that what we’re doing to our planet right now is not going in the right direction. And in fact, the U.S. has just claimed that they wanted to build more petrochemical factories.

Andrew McCombe:
How do you feel when you see that crap being pumped into the rivers, which you know is going to go out into the ocean, which you know will affect wildlife? It’s going to affect people. How does it feel when you’re paddling down that river?

Gary Bencheghib:
On the Mississippi, we didn’t really see the impacts, because it’s a bit muddy. And because of the brown water, you can’t really tell. We didn’t see pollution in that sense, but…

Andrew McCombe:
Could you feel it or sense it, though?

Gary Bencheghib:
We did some of the first microplastic tests with one university out in Louisiana. We tested how much microplastics were flowing down the Mississippi, in the upper, and in the lower. We were very shocked; our research found trillions of microplastic particles are going outwards into the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi is 41% of U.S. waters.

So Illinois, the Missouri, major rivers are going into the Mississippi. And if we have trillions, what does that mean? The microplastic particle is too small to see with the naked eye. It is like an unseen danger that we can’t even imagine because it’s too small to see. That was terrifying for us to experience. And that’s really what inspired the next adventure, the next summer.

Andrew McCombe:
Yeah. So just on that, so there are two forms of plastic, essentially. There’s the bigger plastic, like the bottles and that type of thing, but then there’s the microplastic that we don’t even see that we’re not even aware of that’s being pumped down.

Gary Bencheghib:
Right. Either they degrade over the years into these small microplastics because of photosynthesis, the Sun or they break down with salt water. That’s the scary part. All of us have microplastic particles inside our stomachs, but we don’t yet know the impact on our health. Initial research shows that these microplastic particles could lead to cancer.

And that research is just coming out right now. So this year, a lot of the research labs are finishing their research by the fall. It’s fascinating but scary. I think it’s going to shift the entire human population and their attitude towards plastics. If we know that it has a bad impact on our lives, I think we would switch.

Andrew McCombe:
Well, I guess the hardest thing for people is they can’t see it. Right? So you can see like we’re here on the beach here in Bali and you can see the rubbish, it’s visible, but microplastics aren’t visible. Are they? They’re invisible, and yet they’re going to have a profound impact on us.

Gary Bencheghib:
No, completely. And I think that’s the scariest part of this very problem.

Andrew McCombe:
And so Mississippi becomes the next project?

Gary Bencheghib:
Yes. When you do an adventure, you’re on a boat for two months, all you think about it in your head is, “what is going to be the next adventure?” Not having gotten the visuals that we anticipated, we Googled the most polluted river in the world. We were very shocked to see that it was located in Indonesia, on an island next to Bali, Java, the island next to where we grew up.

I think that automatically put a switch in my mind, and I was like, “We gotta do that river, no matter how toxic it is, no matter how polluted it is.” It’s called the Citarum river. It’s the most polluted river in the world, according to all the sources including the Greens in Switzerland and others, but basically goes for about 300 kilometers, just South of Jakarta.

Gary Bencheghib:
Twenty-seven million people live on this river. It’s the textile hub of Southeast Asia where you have your Gap, H&M, directly dumping their toxic waste into the river. I think we didn’t know what we’re getting ourselves into. The idea was going to be very similar to the Mississippi in that we were going to be floating on plastic bottles.

Somehow we had to find a different raft idea. We came up with this idea of making two plastic kayaks, each made of 300 plastic bottles, a bamboo frame, and a recycled net. So it was fully recycled. We tested it out, and we failed the first time. Then we invited some friends who were bamboo experts who really helped us.

In August 2017, we were ready to launch this two-week expedition, starting at the source where this textile industry begins. It was probably some of the most terrifying experiences that I ever had, just from the smell of rotten eggs, dead flesh. You see, these fires burn almost 300 meters, and there are many landfills of plastic waste dumped straight into the river.

In terms of visuals, we were very overwhelmed by the reality of the problem, because it’s like you’re stepping into this far away place, that’s unreal. You think about movies in 50 years. That’s what ultimately they’re trying to portray, but this is happening right now in our home country of Indonesia.

We were obviously very moved by it. We produced a video series on social media to document our trip. But we also realized that there were people fighting the good fight. Although the conditions are so shocking and completely out of this world, some people still find positive energy to battle the fight.

That’s what inspired us all along. Be it on the Mississippi or Citarum, we tried to capture the stories. And that’s what keeps you going, seeing that this is not the end, but there are communities that want to see you cleaning a river.

Andrew McCombe:
So tell me, this river, where does it flow to?

Gary Bencheghib:
It flows out into Java sea. But 90% of Jakarta’s water comes from that very river. So if you think about that for a second, Jakarta, one of the biggest and most populated cities in the world, and whenever you turn your tap on or flush your toilet in Jakarta, it’s the water coming from that river.

Andrew McCombe:
So do the people know that?

Gary Bencheghib:
People have no idea. It’s the elephant in the room of Indonesia. I think they knew that it was that polluted; there were reports before on the river, but through our social media campaign, which got viral overnight and got the attention of Indonesia. Just two weeks after we finished, the ministry of the environment declared that they are sending up this emergency clean-up. I think the Minister spoke a little too early and didn’t get the approval of the President or anything.

Gary Bencheghib:
That created a big mess, more virality to the cause, which is great. And four months later, the Indonesian presidents launches the big clean-up of the Citarum, one of Indonesia’s biggest clean-ups in his history. He deployed 7,000 military troops to clean up the river. They’ve been going on it for two years and a bit now.

The military troops are there everyday, living with communities, teaching them about better waste management, but trying to do everything get this toxic goo out of the river.

Andrew McCombe:
And how’s the response been from the people knowing that this new initiative has been created?

Gary Bencheghib:
I think it’s been truly amazing to see how people have reacted. Indonesia is very proud of its army and military. Having them directly involved in the river clean-up, opened up so many eyes. To see that it’s gotten that attention and also the President who dedicated part of his annual budget into the cleaning up of this river was great. I got to meet the President at the launching ceremony, which is amazing. But he told me very, very succinctly that in seven years, the Citarum is going to be one of the cleanest rivers in the world.

Over the last two years, we’ve seen amazing efforts, people coming together to make it a national agenda, but with lack of funding and lack of motivation when you’re dealing with such a big problem, I’ve been going back and forth to try to see how we can energize the troops.

Gary Bencheghib:
And whenever they get a film crew over there, they’re all excited. We have to think about how we can make sure that they don’t lose hope and keep the energy alive.

Andrew McCombe:
Well, they probably feel devalued because every day they’ve got to do it over and over again, right?

Gary Bencheghib:
Just like our beach clean-ups here in Bali. They’re not necessarily dealing with it at the root of the problem. They’re just starting right now, after two years. They were dragging the impossible for the first two years, but now they have to start thinking about how to do it at the source. That’s what inspired me.

We’ve done awareness campaigns year after year; we’d done clean-ups, but what can we provide is “Make a change world” in terms of real solutions. Our next project (Sungai Watch)

Gary Bencheghib:
Protecting Bali’s waterways, that you got out to see yesterday, is all about how we can prevent plastic pollution from going out into the ocean, by pulling and deploying these trash barriers that are low cost. They are cost-efficient, made from localized materials that can be replicated on a mass scale. And it’s all about scalability, meaning that anybody can build a trash boom or trash block tomorrow.

Andrew McCombe:
So tell us more about that these booms and these blocks, they stop the flow of the water or the plastic, and then you go in and clean it up, or tell me how that works.

Gary Bencheghib:
Exactly. A trash block, as its name says, blocks the trash, meaning that it acts as a gate or as a physical barrier to stop the plastic in the rivers when you can still pick it up before it goes out into the ocean. When it goes out into the ocean, the plastic from Bali could end up on the beach in Santa Monica, or a plastic bottle thrown in the sea in Sydney will end up here on Bali.

There are no barriers in the ocean. And the scariest part of this big problem is that with the currents you cannot follow where the plastics go. Going back to the solution, we wanted to make sure that we could capture as much as possible while we still can. (Andrew: Before it heads out in the ocean). What we’re doing is essentially disaster relief effort, a little bit like what we were doing on Citarum, but if everybody could make their own trash boom, if everybody could adopt these technologies all around the world, I think we’d be able to significantly reduce the amount of plastic that’s going out into the ocean.

Andrew McCombe:
So as you say, that one’s disaster relief, but obviously at the higher end of the source, and you want to look at the cause of the problem, right? Which effectively is the production of plastic and consumption of plastic and then discardation of the plastic and, or non-refundable plastic.

Looking at Citarum as an example, what are the companies doing now to make a difference in that space or what are governments doing to try and change that?

Gary Bencheghib:
The biggest problem in Indonesia is that, up until a couple of months ago, we were only using 1% of the overall budget dedicated to waste management. Infrastructure is really not living up to the production and the consumption here in Indonesia, of plastics. And so if you can’t deal with it at the end of use, obviously it’s going to lead to landfills ending up in our rivers or an ocean or being illegally burnt.

Andrew McCombe:
Which is toxic on its own, right, burning of the plastic?

Gary Bencheghib:
I think that there’s a lot to do. Investing in waste management, investing in infrastructure to make sure that it’s not ending up in our atmosphere, in our oceans.

On the Citarum still, we’re not having the proper resources put for proper waste management. I think if we are to change Indonesia, I think right now it’s quite difficult. Indonesia has one of the biggest populations of scavengers where the middleman pays multiple families to get him back his commission. And so you can’t really interrupt that sector because it’s very low poverty.

Andrew McCombe:
So tell me about that. There are people out there scavenging the plastic to take it back and getting a small commission for X amount of weight or a quantity of plastic. Is that right?

Gary Bencheghib:
Because we don’t have proper waste management, we have some of the biggest open landfills in the world, after Brazil and other countries. That means that in these huge, massive landfills, you have scavengers that are living literally on trash, selling the trash. How it works is that you have a middleman that has a couple of families working for him, where even some of the kids are working as well. How can you try and make a dent in this big structural poverty.

Andrew McCombe:
Oh, you’re against so many facets, aren’t you? Not only the pollution itself, but there’s the government, there’s a lack of education. And then you’ve got politics with people who are already getting a little cut and along the way, which is pretty standard in these things. Isn’t it?

Gary Bencheghib:
It’s definitely a long fight, and I know that we’re not here for a couple of years. I think it’s definitely a life dedication. Growing up on the Island of Bali, wanting to protect the island. When you are raised on an island, you see it way more when you get to the beach every day and see the first impact. And that’s why there are so many amazing initiatives on this island, like eco champions.

Andrew McCombe:
Well, your girlfriend is also dedicated to cleaning up or banning plastic bags, isn’t she?

Gary Bencheghib:
Yeah, exactly. I think it’s all about who you surround yourselves with. My girlfriend’s been in the fight for six years. My brother just recently ran across the U.S. as a protest against plastic pollution. He was running with shoes made from 11 plastic bottles, meeting with state governors, mayors, and schools to raise awareness about the issue.

You have to keep yourself motivated because dealing with it every day with your bare hands is not optimal, and the most inspiring thing to do. But when you do get to remove 50 kilos in a couple of minutes, 30 minutes or whatnot, with your own hands, you feel the true impact. And you know you’re making a better change.

Andrew McCombe:
So talking about the life dedication, we spent a day out there yesterday, as you just mentioned, cleaning up there, half an hour to clean up 50 kilos, you’ve got your block in the water, it’s coming down, it’s blocking it up, you’re lifting it. And we’re putting it in the bags. It’s a thankless task mate. You’re doing every day.

You’re not just talking about this. It’s not just about raising awareness. You’re actually going out every day and doing it. What motivates you to do that? Cause mate, I was there and the smell, the dead animals, the disgusting diapers, the plastic it’s feral, right? It’s wet. It’s not a pretty environment. What drives someone like yourself at a young age to dedicate their life to that?

Gary Bencheghib:
When you see the conditions of the Citarum, you realize that by 2050, there’s going to be more plastics than fish. It’s like a little mantra in my head that we have a deadline. And if we pass the point of no return, we’re basically doomed as a society. So we have to do everything in our hands right now, as quickly as possible, on an everyday basis. The truth is, as you saw yesterday, one person removing 50 kilos from one little gut or one little stream.

If everybody would do a little, whether it’s decreasing the number of plastic bottles they use on an everyday basis or their plastic consumption overall, we could win this plastic battle. I think we can do it; we’re strong enough, we’re seeing amazing announcements and amazing revolutionary new ideas around the world to really push us towards the boundaries of eliminating the plastics overall. And that will make us feel like we can fight this fight.

Andrew McCombe:
So I just want, I want to keep going back to this drive thing, right? You’ve been inspired. There are a lot of people out there who would think it’s a great cause, and it is a fantastic cause, but they don’t do anything about it. What’s the difference between you and someone else.? So to me, that’s what Outliers are all about, right?

What’s the difference between you and those people who don’t take action? They’ll talk about it, but they won’t take action.

Gary Bencheghib:
Bali has such a strong place in my heart. It’s the place where I grew up and seeing it getting destroyed over the years… For the sake of this island, for the sake of this planet, for the sake of our ocean, I didn’t want miss that opportunity of not protecting it. I think we have everything in our hands right now to make sure we sustain as a society.

We owe it to our planet. Make that leap forward and try to protect it. Whether we’re going down some of the most polluted rivers in the world to make that statements to governments that we need urgent action, or whether we’re running physically against continents, I think that youth is raising, “Make a Change” is raising.

And hopefully, people will listen to us because there’s no turning back.

Andrew McCombe:
So this is the hard part, right? They talk about the boiled frog scenario, where if you chuck a frog in water and you boil it slowly, it will die. Right?

Think about that in relation to the environment and everything that’s happening. But if you throw it into hot water, it’ll jump out E.G., Cause it’s so hot. It feels it and jumps. And because of the environment, we all know it’s changing, and there are skeptics. And we’ll talk about that shortly, but because it’s not imminent like right now, how do we engage those people to be exactly like you to be able to take some action now.

Because you’re already doing it, but I just I’m really trying to get right. How do we engage the people to a) be educated, and b) take action to do something about it in their own backyard?

Gary Bencheghib:
We all have that possibility of making a change. And that’s really what we wanted to start with “Make a change World”, it’s about how to inspire people to make that leap forwards to really make that small, simple change. And we don’t have to change our entire life. To make it fully zero waste, not produce any plastics.

No, we understand that behavioral change happens quite slowly. It’s all about, “this week I’m going to start drinking more water,” for example, or “this week I’m gonna stop using a plastic toothbrush.” So it’s about these small little switches for your health, for just society overall, is what we have to start focusing on. With “Make a Change,” we’re very excited to be releasing a full-on sustainable guide that will be customized by location later this year.

So whether you’re in Paris, you have everything you need to know about how to make that change. Or in Sydney, you can understand everything that you need to know about making a change.

Andrew McCombe:
So, there’ll be a list of things you could do on a daily basis to help a process.

Gary Bencheghib:
We became a media outlet over the past few years. We inspired people through videos, as well. Through our travels, we really realized that there are people are that are young and old, there are no age boundaries, there are no gender boundaries, just people who want to protect this planet.

Excited about that.

Andrew McCombe:
Great resource. So like back to what we were talking about earlier is the skeptics. Now, my philosophy on all of this is they speak about the research as being conflicted, right? But my belief is that research is only going to be telling you what the person funding the research wants you to say anyway. So it’s tarnished, and whatever our external reality is a reflection of our internal. So, we will observe the results we want to observe based on what we want to observe, right?

The skeptics that are out there, my thoughts are, would you not rather do something about it, even if it’s not true climate change, that is. And in the process, make a more efficient, more sustainable world, then go, “it’s a load of shit. I’m not doing anything about it.” What do you think?

Gary Bencheghib:
Right now, one of the biggest things is that we don’t have data. I mean, temperatures are rising, oceans are rising, but when it comes back to the plastic pollution, which is really our area of focus, we lack data regarding the plastics that go into our ocean. We don’t know what types of plastics are pouring down. We don’t know what brands to hold accountable.

That’s what we’re trying to do with SUNGAI Watch, being a monitoring platform, starting with these trash blocks and trash barriers. But once we have removed the trash from these waterways, we then bring it to our research station, which we then separate into the various types of plastics, and then actually pinpoint what types of brands are within these types of plastics.

So we can hold the brands accountable. At Davos, recently, Coca-Cola announced that they were going to continue producing as many plastic bottles because consumers demand it, but that’s not true. On social media, you can see massive movements happening all around the world. In Australia, you have “take three for the oceans.”

These social movements are building fast, and people are really demanding change. So how can you make sure that the brands are following true data, true information? I think if we can visualize as we do on the Citarum, but bring in data is a part of it. Hopefully, it could be a global collaboration effort. We can’t point fingers anymore.

I think we’ve gone past that phase; it needs to be massive operation from a retailer’s point of view. From Walmarts, Walgreens, all of them, as well as the big companies producing the plastic and using it in the packaging, to the governmental efforts. The conversation is starting to happen. It’s definitely not going fast enough. We’re not doing enough. But with that data, with those visuals, we’ll be able to make some changes.

Andrew McCombe:
Yeah. And I know we did some sorting yesterday. We did some weighing; we looked at what, there are different types of plastic, etc. But also there’s a massive education gap still. Isn’t there? There’s not as much awareness as there could be, especially in Indonesia as an example, but when there’s an education. We talked about it yesterday that in Indonesia, they think that plastic reduction is going to change climate change. Whereas it’s just one of the things, isn’t it?

Gary Bencheghib:
Right. When you’re at a rally for climate change, “Friday’s for future,” for example, the big global movement that’s happened where kids are skipping school to protest on the streets, you can see the young Indonesian students holding banners, saying “reduce plastic bottles”. But there’s nothing about our rain forest or the mining industry or anything else. I think the level of awareness needs to increase a lot more in developing countries overall. We do understand the urgency regarding plastic pollution because it’s taking over our beaches.

Andrew McCombe:
We’re sitting in a rubbish dump next to the beach.

Gary Bencheghib:
Because it’s so visual, people do realize it. When you speak about ocean level rise, we’re going to see it eventually, but not right now. People need to face and feel a true emergency; they need to physically and visually be faced with threats to act.

Andrew McCombe:
That’s what I’m saying. Right. The boiled frog, they need the hot water to jump out, but they don’t have that yet. Do they?

Gary Bencheghib:
Unfortunately, yes. We need to get the message to the people. I don’t know how, but we have to…

Andrew McCombe:
Until it affects them personally, I think that’s a hard one, isn’t it?

Gary Bencheghib:
Right. Whereas you see it around us. It’s rubbish everywhere, and it’s a beautiful beach, and people are sunbathing down there on the beach with rubbish all around them. Which just doesn’t happen in Australia so much or other countries.

Andrew McCombe:
So what is the solution overall? What do you think the solution is?

Gary Bencheghib:
It starts with a behavioral change from every one of us. If kids here in Indonesia had more knowledge and told their parents not to throw plastics in the rivers, we’d be in a different state. If the government took that change forward.

It’s a behavioral mindset that needs to be completely changed. Back 50, 60, 70 years ago, plastics were not everywhere as it is now. We have to think about this one the planet that we have, this one ocean that we have, and make sure that we’re protecting it for generations to come.

Andrew McCombe:
So, what help do you need to make this happen? As someone like yourself or other organizations that are doing their best on a day to day basis? Tell the viewers, what do you need?

Gary Bencheghib:
We need to be way stronger of a movement. We need people around the world to step up and be key role models in this fight, showing that it’s possible to reduce our overall plastic pollution or plastic consumption habits. We need support, people who are willing to go into rivers. We need people willing to replicate our solutions here on Bali, massively around the world.

Andrew McCombe:
You need financial support?

Gary Bencheghib:
We need obviously financial support. Yeah.

Andrew McCombe:
Because I saw it yesterday. Right? The booms themselves and the blocks cost money. The installation of that costs money. They’re not light, so it takes people, the monitoring of the booms of the blocks need money. Then the daily cleaning of the blocks and booms needs money because of people resources.

Gary Bencheghib:
It’s a full operation scheme that requires some donations and money in order to run it. Hopefully we will be able to really on local government and national government to replicate our resources.

Andrew McCombe:
So you’ve got a system then, called the blocks and the booms and the system that goes with it, that ultimately could be scalable, leverageable by franchising to each community where they could have their own local sponsors, etc.?

Gary Bencheghib:
Exactly. On Bali, the goal for the end of the year is to protect as much of the coast as possible. In mid-May, we’ll be doing that with a full run around the coast. You’ll see us running right here, circumnavigating the island on foot.

Our system consists of 10 solutions of trash rooms and trash blocks and a full cleaning and sorting team. That will be put in place. We’re in the piloting phase right now, as you just saw yesterday. From mid-March to mid-May, there will be two months of full workflow, figuring out the best way to organize. Hopefully, by mid-May, we can scale up massively across Bali first, and then the rest of the country.

Andrew McCombe:
So there’s definitely a way of local communities getting involved with “make a change”, with your system to be able to make a change for their environment.

Gary Bencheghib:
The rivers are our central pathways from land, connecting our world here on land with the ocean. I think if we can protect that pathway and water, essentially, as the most precious resource in our life, we will be able to protect the planet.

Andrew McCombe:
That’s interesting. Let me talk about this yesterday. I’m from New Zealand, we’ve got the cleanest rivers in the world and we from as long as I’ve been alive, which is a couple of years, 25 years, it’s just been in our education that you do not litter. You don’t throw stuff in the water. And I said to you yesterday, you’re an asshole if you do, right? But here they don’t have that education, do they?

Gary Bencheghib:
No. For sure, not. That’s why behavioral change needs to start happening. If we can make sure that our rivers are the most protected, precious resource on the Island of Bali, then we can radically change what happens in the ocean. We’ll get way less plastic ending up on our beaches.

Andrew McCombe:
And I also you’ve gotten enough support already from an engineering company to be able to support you with your blocks and the booms.

Gary Bencheghib:
Right now, we’re exploring with various engineers to see which solutions are the best, but we are really trying to explore, with so many other technologies out there in the world. There’s these bubbles, barriers in Amsterdam in the canals that are literally bubbling up the waterways and looking like a physical wall. So it’s just the trash bubble there. That could also be interesting. And there are other technologies that are more automated than the ones that we have. We’re trying to learn as much as possible and see what the optimal solutions are right now.

Andrew McCombe:
Well, I guess there are other companies out there that are interested in being socially responsible. Aren’t they, they want to make a difference. They might have a budget to ensure it might be tax-deductible, but at least it’s something that could support.

Gary Bencheghib:
No, we’ve seen over the last two, three years that CSR is not anymore…

Andrew McCombe:
CSR. What is that?

Gary Bencheghib:
Corporate social responsibility is essentially a sub-department of every company, but right now, it’s really merged into the entire philosophy of the companies and visions of really being here for the planet for the long term.

There are businesses like Ikea that is going to make all their furniture out of recycled materials. Other companies, like Patagonia, is dedicating 1% of the budget every year to our planet and people fighting for the protection of our planet and also creating entire platforms to allow businesses to drop on the same board. I think that that’s what it should all be about.

Andrew McCombe:
So, Gary, for the outliers that are out there, the young entrepreneurs or the young people who are socially responsible and want to make a difference, what advice have you got for them to be able to start their journey?

Gary Bencheghib:
Truly, there’s no idea that is crazy enough to protect the planet. And that’s really been our philosophy when you’re committed to one crazy idea, you have to go above and beyond to make that achievable, surround yourselves with the best possible team, the best possible support system, your mentors, your parents that are supporting you, your friends, and family as well.

Try to see how you can make that idea into reality. Create an action plan to make sure that what you’re putting out is doable. From running across the US, my brother had never run a marathon before running 117 marathons back to back.

Andrew McCombe:
Just say that again.

Gary Bencheghib:
My brother had recently run across America, from New York to LA, 3000 miles, which is about 5,000 kilometers

Andrew McCombe:
One hundred seventeen marathons, never run one in his life.

Gary Bencheghib:
One hundred seventeen marathons back to back, had never run one marathon in his life. But just with that pure intention of really wanting to jump into the Pacific ocean and doing an expedition ocean to ocean on his feet.

So whether you want to do a hundred trash barriers around Bali, again, it’s that dedication. If you want to move forward with an action plan with milestones, then make sure that it’s tangible, that it’s real, and that it can actually happen.

Andrew McCombe:
So again, I’ll go back to the viewers, like you’ve had this calling this passion, this desire to do something for the planet. They might not have that same clarity as you, when you first started again, we talk about support. We talk about action plans. We talk about everything, but not everyone gets it at the same age as you did. Right?

There’s people out there want to do something.

What would you recommend?

Can they jump on with someone else initially and learn from them, and then that might evolve into their own thing?

Gary Bencheghib:
Number one is getting educated, watching documentaries, or other things that you are interested in. Whether it’s meat consumption and wanting to reduce that, or crazy river expedition or you can actually use these platforms for young entrepreneurs and young change-makers that show them every step of the way.

There’s one called Youthopia, which is the center of youth around the world, founded by my girlfriend. I’m one of their advisors, but the idea is, how can you propel society forward by teaching our youth how to become change-makers?

Andrew McCombe:
Yesterday, we spent some time bringing the rubbish out, cleaning it, sorting it, and weighing it. I did that for half the day with you. And half of that time was filming. You do that every day, mate, that is thankless work, as I mentioned earlier, how do you stay motivated when you’re challenged by that, knowing that tonight it’s going to rain again, and there’s more plastic coming down that river.

Gary Bencheghib:
Right now we’re trying to sort out the best possible workflow for this entire system, so we can scale. I’m the one doing it right now. I’m learning. When we employ people or get a crew that wants to help us, it will be easier. At the moment, it’s not easy to sort, clean, and process.

When we’re able to facilitate the entire scheme, then we can scale it up into the waste management sector and whatnot.

On a rainy night, I remember one moment on the Citarum, when there was heavy rain, and literally trash came gushing down the small alleyways into the bigger river.

As we came back to the spot that we had cleaned the night before, we were literally rowing through the plastic. With every stroke, you get plastic bags entangled in your paddle. I think when you see that and experience that, and you’re literally physically stranded in plastic. You think about turtles that have to live in that or dolphins.

Andrew McCombe:
How do you overcome challenges that can help the viewers your way of overcoming it is to be inspired or motivated by their shit that you’re engulfed in on a day to day basis, knowing “I’m going to do something about this.” So you’re not giving up. It’s not an option.

Gary Bencheghib:
If every politician or government were to experience the conditions we experienced on the Citarum, in the summer of 2017, I think we’d be way more forward as a society, needing the path to sustainability.

Andrew McCombe:
Do you think that that’s a possibility, we could do tours down the Citarum to make people realize what we need to do. That’d be pretty amazing. You think that they’d pay to do that. I don’t think so.

Gary Bencheghib:
No. It’d be a life-changing experience pretty much. But I think if we get them in that state where they’re stranded in plastics, the water is rising in the kayaks, and they’re sinking at the same time.. (Andrew: And it stinks, and there’s death around them). And it’s like that frog.

Andrew McCombe:
Yeah. So the frog again, but I know a lot of people give up. Right? But I also know like I want to inspire outliers out there to be themselves and make a difference. So when they are feeling those challenges, I’ve seen them yesterday, man, with what you’re experiencing, how do you not give up? So you’re just super motivated by the upside of all this and cleaning up the earth. What advice would you have to them and their scenario?

Gary Bencheghib:
When you have a crazy idea bubbling in your head, you want that crazy idea. And the truth is, sometimes we lose ourselves. And because we don’t think it’s possible, sometimes we have bad days, and it all just feels overwhelming. But if you keep that end goal in mind, and do everything towards making sure that end goal is really what you achieve.

Andrew McCombe:
So stay focused on the dream.

Gary Bencheghib:
Maybe one day it’s smaller steps, the other day it’s bigger steps, but the end goals and really staying determined to make it happen.

Andrew McCombe:
And be patient. Cause it doesn’t happen overnight. Does it? I mean, you’re living proof, right? So how long have you been going?

Gary Bencheghib:
For ten years, it’ll be ten years in October.

Andrew McCombe:
So do you think in that ten years you’ve come, as far as you thought you would have ten years ago?

Gary Bencheghib:
I didn’t know I would take this very particular issue straight to heart, but now it feels like it’s the number one concentration focus.

Andrew McCombe:
So of the last 10 years and everything that you’ve learned, what’s the one thing that you feel you could share to the viewers that it’s going to help them on their journey as an entrepreneur, as a socially responsible or a socialpreneur or just in life in general, be themselves and be successful being themselves. What would that be?

Gary Bencheghib:
If you’re thinking about your connection to the planet and what you want to leave behind, we only have one planet, and what do you want to contribute as one individual to make it sustainable for generations to come. If you put that mindset to it, you start thinking about the bigger picture of the world; you start watching this documentary and start listening about the global problem.

Maybe you go out in the field and experience it, and you’re physically in threat by some of these conditions. Then your call will naturally appear as your purpose. And I think that’s what people have to start feeling, sensing their purpose.

Andrew McCombe:
How did you feel that? Did you, did you tune in with meditation or it just happened, it was viewing it externally by seeing the beaches. What was it for you that started to rise the calling?

Gary Bencheghib:
Seeing our home Island, being trashed in plastic… You’re running; you’re surfing, it’s there.

Andrew McCombe:
…and you just felt compelled a feeling of compulsion to do something about it. So for the viewers, if they feel compelled to do something and it doesn’t have to be environmental, it could be socially, business wise whatever, take action on it.

Gary Bencheghib:
Exactly. Yeah.

Andrew McCombe:
And you never know where it will end up where we are. Well, Gary, you’re certainly making a huge difference to the world, making a change to the world. You’re an outlier in every sense of the word. I’m totally inspired being here with you and learning more about your story. Thanks for coming on the show, mate.

Gary Bencheghib:
Thank you, man. Thank you.

Andrew McCombe:
Well, guys, there it is. I hope you enjoyed this inspiring Outlier episode with Gary Bencheghib. For more videos, resources and information, go to www.Outlier.tv/Watch or click the link to our social media pages below.

I’m Andrew McCombe and here’s to living the outlier life outside of the comfort zone. I will see you soon.

 

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